Q: Greg, I enjoy reading about the legendary classic and muscle cars and wonder what your memories are of the Bricklin that was built in the mid-1970s? I don’t see many advertised these days in the antique car magazines. — Earl H., Illinois

A: Earl, thanks for your letter about the Bricklin. I had a friend that had a 1974 Bricklin and it was finished in that special suntan yellow color and powered by an AMC V-8 engine.

Up front, I want to stress that there were less than 3,000 Bricklins ever built during the car’s run from 1974 to 1976, with an estimated 1,200 still around. The car was the brainchild of Malcolm Bricklin, noted in auto history for being the first American businessman to import the Subaru brand to the USA in the mid-1960s. He also founded Subaru of America dealerships, and arranged Subaru franchises until he sold his stake in the company.

After the Subaru sale, Bricklin ventured to Canada to build his dream car. Dubbed the Bricklin SV1 (Safety Vehicle 1), the design came from noted designer Herb Grasse, known for his work on the original Dodge Challenger in 1970 and his input with the noted George Barris “Batmobile,” which sold at Barrett Jackson’s Jan. 20, 2013, auction for a staggering $4.6 million.

The Bricklin SV1, however, was Grasse’s best remembered car as he headed all design work for Bricklin. At the time, the gull wing door Bricklin was quite an achievement, and Bricklin and Grasse received much praise for the work. From clay model to actual production, Grasse was the front man and Bricklin had the money and backing to make it happen.

However, it was the money, or lack thereof, that forced Bricklin into receivership. Specifically, because of funding concerns and the inability of the factory to produce enough Bricklins to fill demand, the Bricklin factory in New Brunswick, Canada, only built 2,854 Bricklins. When the final books of the company were closed, Bricklin owed the Canadian government $23 million. It was a sad end to an impressive car, ingenious owner and noted designer.

Still, although the 1974 to 1976 Bricklin doesn’t garner top dollar at the auctions, the effort is surely worthy of praise and those who today own a Bricklin own a true piece of automotive history. Power came from an AMC 360-V8 in 1974, and thereafter a Ford 351 Windsor V8. As for current values, the NADA list price for a Ford V8 powered Bricklin from 1975 and 1976 go from a low retail of $12,500 to a high retail of $39,000 with an average of $21,500. The AMC powered Bricklin is a few thousand less.

Because the car weighed more than a Corvette, the Bricklin never lived up to its performance claims. It was, however, a safe car with novel security features like an integrated roll cage and 5 mph impact bumpers and side beams. The bonded acrylic came in five colors in 1974 including white, red, green, orange and suntan. The Bricklin was the only production vehicle at the time to have gull-wing doors that opened and closed electrically.

Another effort of note is Bricklin’s involvement in bringing the infamous Yugo to America in 1985, although he quickly sold his interest in 1988 for $20 million. Luckily for Bricklin, in 1992 the United Nations sanctioned against any and all imports from Yugoslavia being sold, ending the Yugo’s run of sales in America and many dealers lost substantial amounts of money. The Balkin crisis at the time resulted in the UN mandates, and Yugo ceased to be in 1993.

As for the Yugo, which utilized Fiat body stamping, it sold brand new for $3,990 in 1985 and actually sold very well the first year as over 160,000 bought the car from US dealers. There were problems with both consumer upkeep (many didn’t take care of the Yugo) and also repair part availability. Some say the Yugo was the worst car ever to hit the shores of America (I agree, they were junk) while a small percentage of dedicated Yugo owners say they were reliable if taken care of and maintained.

Currently, Bricklin has a website about his new vehicles, namely a line of plug in hybrids following several other attempts to build cars, most recently in China, that fell through. Bricklin’s company is called Visionary Vehicles and the car featured on the webpage is a two-seat, three-wheel Bricklin 3EV. At a cost of $25,000, Bricklin notes the battery-powered car could be ready for mass marketing as early as 2019 and he actively is seeking dealers. You can catch up on what he’s been doing by going to vvcars.com for more information or checking on the internet with a Malcolm Bricklin search.

I communicated with Bricklin’s family a few years back after a I wrote a column on the 1974 to 1976 Bricklin, and they told me their father was still as determined as ever and dedicated to his lifelong love of building and marketing cars. The family sent me a copy of the documentary film, “The Entrepreneur,” which details Bricklin’s life as a lover and manufacturer of cars and follows him across the world in meetings to secure contracts for his special cars.

Although Bricklin has both his detractors and supporters, and has gone from rich to broke to rich many times over, his love of the automobile and building them is without question.

— Greg Zyla writes weekly for More Content Now and other Gatehouse Media publications.